2 November, 2014 Good evening!

I promise next week to come up with a catchier title. I hope your week has been great and the week to come is even better.

I wouldn’t say this week has been a “let down” after our excellent cabin adventure, but it certainly has been a “wind down.” The air has been so crisp and pure that both the breathing and the photography have been exceptionally good. Writers sometimes talk about a “tang” or a “snap” in the air and often describe autumn air as “crisp.” It’s tangy and snappy and crisp and more. The early part of autumn still just feels like late summer and humidity lingers. This morning (Sunday) at the river let me assure you, summer was gone without a trace. It was 47º and clear, clear, clear at the edge of the water and the wind was blowing a gale. It felt great but it was cold. This is from this morning; look at Mackey looking at the river:

Mackey gazing up at a cold, windy river

I made it to the river in the afternoon on Monday; this is more of the beautiful autumn light:

The river has a much different look in the afternoon! See the curly tree on the right? That’s quite a contrast.

Summer moons are all beautiful but they never look as crisp as they do in autumn. I took one on Monday (October 27):

4 days old, 17% full, 7:00 PM on Monday, October 27

And another on Thursday (October 30):

Three days later, now 7 days old, 50% full, very beautiful. Taken around 9:30 PM on Thursday, October 30

I took this picture at a friend’s house that Thursday afternoon. A lot of people have already seen this picture because I got such a kick out of it I put it on Facebook plus sent it around to a few people. When we pulled up to my friend’s house this squirrel was gobbling up their pumpkin. I think that’s going to be the Next Big Thing – All Natural Pumpkin Carving. See, a week or two before Halloween you’ll put an uncarved pumpkin on your front porch. Make the shape of a face in peanut butter on the front of the pumpkin. Then let the squirrels eat it and carve the pumpkin for you! Don’t forget to use organically grown non-GMO locally harvested pumpkins plus Reginald’s Homemade Peanut Butter (from right here in Richmond!). To be truly environmentally friendly. Make your orange pumpkin green next year. Here’s the squirrel that started it all:

The squirrel that started the environmentally friendly pumpkin carving revolution

I was at Brown’s Island train watching with my buddy on Wednesday and I looked down and there were Osage Oranges on the ground! Amazing! More amazing still – perhaps – in all my years of seeing Osage Oranges, I have never seen one in a tree! Can you imagine!? Fortunately I looked up and saw this:

Osage Oranges in a tree! Finally!

Ev and I were downtown yesterday and I saw a broken bag of grain on the ground. I enjoyed the way it looked:

That’s what bread looks like before it’s bread.

There were little purple flowers growing near it. Yesterday was November 1. Flowers will disappear for 2014 really soon so I was happy to take this picture:

Still blooming in November! Impressive. This flower was quite petite. And delicate appearing, but tough seeming, since it’s still blooming in November.

Looking forward to next week! All best!

Jay